Names, Names, Names

Did you think the Defensive Specialist was kidding when he said he was going to ratchet up the frequency of posts this week? Enough of this one post per week bullshinto (as they say in Japan), its time to get serious! So the schedule for this week looks something like this:

Wednesday – continue the analysis of team rosters

Thursday – uniform analysis

Friday – season opener preview

Of course this could all change at the drop of the hat and is heavily influenced by incidents like today when the Defensive Specialist put a friendly call in to the Canberra Cavalry office searching for scraps of information about the Cavalry’s starting line up on Saturday only to be greeted by the surliest and most unfriendly voice of all time. Granted things are probably a tad hectic down in the nation’s capital right now as they gear up for their season opener but surely any press is good press! To top it all off, the Defensive Specialist was thinking about donating a sizeable chunk of change out of the Deep in the Hole coffers as well - who knew the Cavalry were so cashed up they didn’t need to treat random phone calls with courtesy? Any other team interested?

Alright, enough of the customer service complaints, let’s take a look at each of the teams rosters and see if we can find anything interesting.

Adelaide Bite

The Bite have invested in 4 US imports to pad out the roster and seem to have aligned themselves with the Seattle Mariners. The pro players include:

Brandon Bantz, a 23-year-old catcher who finished up at the AA level;

Brandon Maurer a 20-year-old pitcher who may in fact be built like a brick shithouse;

James Mcowen, a 23-year-old outfielder who hit .340 last season;

Quincy Latimore, a 21-year-old outfielder from the Pirates organisation who hit 19 bombs at High A last season.

Both the Brandons played limited innings last year while Mcowen is notable for the 45 game hitting streak he put together in 2009 which was the 8^th longest in minor league history.

2004 Olympian Tom Brice also returns to the fold and will hopefully play enough outfield to allow professional hitter Ben Wigmore to retire his concrete glove and remain strictly at DH.

Brisbane Bandits

The Bandits have travelled a different route to other teams and instead of using American imports have gone with an Asian infusion and recruited players from the Nippon League. Their affiliation in 2010 is with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks who have supplied the following players:

Hiroki Yamada – left handed pitcher;

Reo Ckikado – left handed pitcher;

Shuhei Fukuda – infielder;

Ryuma Kidokoro – outfielder.

Unfortunately the Defensive Specialist only speaks conversational Japanese and was unable to decipher the Softhawks Japanese website so no inside information is available on any of the players except that Yamada is in Australia to work on his slow curve. The upside to all of this is that the team will be travelling with an interpreter which means he or she will be the butt of all pranks pulled throughout the season.

Phil Stockman returns to the Bandits providing another big arm to go along with Drew Naylor and Ryan Searle.

Melbourne Aces

The Aces have a couple of Independent League players – Hunter Davis and Brad Hertzler who should provide innings on the mound. The big names that’ll help the Aces in 2010 are Travis Blackley, Justin Huber, Josh Spence and Adam Bright. Loyal readers may remember Peter Moylan stating that he’d pitch in the ABL at some stage this season but it won’t be anything more than a fleeting appearance to get his work in prior to spring training.

The most interesting thing about the Aces roster at this stage of proceedings is the size of the coaching staff – 1 manager and 6 coaches. The Aces had better be well organised!

Perth Heat

The Heat have once again affiliated themselves with the Baltimore Orioles and secured the services of 4 imports:

Brett Jacobson- 24-year-old right-handed reliever who had a solid season in High A last season;

Cole McCurry – 25-year-old left-handed starter who played at High A last season;

Robbie Wilansky – 26-year-old outfielder who swings from the left side and played at Double A last season;

Ronnie Welfty – 22-year-old outfielder who played at High A and slugged 18 homeruns.

The Heat have also added former minor leaguer Evan McCarthur to man third base and welcome back Liam Hendriks and Liam Barron who will bolster the rotation. They still have a horrible logo.

Canberra Cavalry

The Cavalry appear to have stopped by every embassy in the ACT and put an APB out on available baseball players as their roster is made up of an eclectic mix of foreigners. These players include:

Korea

Heo Jun-Hyeok (right-handed pitcher)

Jim Myung-Ho (right-handed pitcher)

Lee Jung-Min (right-handed pitcher)

Jang Sung-Woo (catcher)

Moon Kyu-Hyun (infielder)

Lee Seung-Hwa (outfielder)

Italy

Alex Maestri (right-handed pitcher) – first Italian born pitcher to be signed by a Major League team.

India

Rinkhu Singh (left-handed pitcher) – signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Defensive Specialist urges you to click on the link and read up on his freaking amazing journey to professional baseball!

Netherlands

Didi Gregorious (infielder)

Canada

Ian Choy (Outfielder)

United States

Donald Lutz (outfielder) – 21-year-old Cincinnati Red minor leaguer.

David Washington (infielder). Listed as an infielder, D Wash is back on the scene after a successful stint playing for the upstart South Australian Claxton Shield team last year.

If Steve Schrenk, the Cavalry’s new manager is looking for some team bonding ideas, how about a casserole night? Imagine the culinary treats you’d have with this many international flavours?

On top of these names you can add the likes of Nick Kimpton, Tom Vincent, Michael Collins, Steven Kent and Phil Brassington. The boys from the nation’s capital will be a strong squad in 2010 albeit somewhat short of Aussies.

The Defensive Specialist has poured over the rosters trying to determine where the teams fit for the inaugural season. As mentioned the Canberra Multiculturalists look a hell of a lot stronger than anticipated while the Bandits look to be the weakest of all teams in the competition (having said that, it was difficult to find information on their imports so the Defensive Specialist will need to lay eyes on them before an educated assessment is made).

Remember, on Thursday the Defensive Specialist goes Project Runway and presents a uniform overview. Depending on the mood in the Canberra Calvary offices, Friday should be an opening game preview featuring line-ups and starting pitchers!